sparrow

See also: Sparrow

English

A male sparrow (Passer domesticus)

A female sparrow (Passer domesticus)

Etymology

From Middle English sparwe, sparowe, from Old English spearwa, from Proto-West Germanic *sparwō, from Proto-Germanic *sparwô, from Proto-Indo-European *spḗr (“sparrow”).

Cognate with Dutch spreeuw (“starling”), Alemannic German Spar (“sparrow”), German Sperling (“sparrow”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål spurv (“sparrow”), Norwegian Nynorsk sporv (“sparrow”), Swedish sparv (“sparrow”), Breton frao (“crow”), Tocharian A spārāñ, Ancient Greek ψάρ (psár, “starling”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈspæɹəʊ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈspæɹoʊ/, /ˈspɛɹoʊ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

  (Mary–marry–merry distinction)

• Audio (US)

  (file)

  (Mary–marry–merry merger)
• Rhymes: -æɹəʊ

Noun

sparrow (plural sparrows)

1. The house sparrow, Passer domesticus; a small bird with a short bill, and brown, white and gray feathers.

   Synonyms: spadger, (Australia) spoggy, spuggy

2. A member of the family Passeridae, comprising small Old World songbirds.
3. A member of the family Emberizidae, comprising small New World songbirds.
4. Generically, any small, nondescript bird.
5. (UK, chiefly London) A quick-witted, lively person.

   cockney sparrow

   • 1878, Ally Sloper's guide to the Paris exhibition, Charles Henry Ross, page 54:

     I take it there 's scarcely a happier fellow alive than your honest town-bred smoke-dried cockney sparrow.

   • 2005, Drama Faces: Martine McCutcheon, BBC

     Professional cockney sparrow Martine has acted since childhood.

Derived terms

• German sparrow
• house sparrow
• russet sparrow
• sparrowhawk
• sparrows' wedding
• tree sparrow

 

Translations

Passer domesticus — see house sparrow

bird of the family Passeridae

• Aghwan: 𐕖𐕒𐔱𐔰𐔾 (čobal)
• Albanian: harabel (sq) m, trumcak (sq) m
• Arabic: عَصْفُور‎ (ʿaṣfūr), عُصْفُور‎ m (ʿuṣfūr)

  Egyptian Arabic: عصفور‎ m (ʿuṣfūr)

• Armenian: ճնճղուկ (hy) (čnčłuk), ծիտ (hy) (cit)

  Middle Armenian: չիտ (čʿit)

  Old Armenian: ծիտ (cit)

• Assamese: ঘৰচিৰিকা (ghorsirika), ঘনচিৰিকা (ghonsirika), ঘৰচৰাই (ghorsorai)
• Azerbaijani: sərçə (az)
• Baluchi: جنجشک‎ (jinjišk)
• Bashkir: турғай (turğay)
• Belarusian: верабе́й (be) m (vjerabjéj), варо́бчык m (varóbčyk) (diminutive)
• Bengali: চড়ুই (côṛui)
• Bhojpuri: गौरइया (gauraiyā)
• Bulgarian: врабче́ (bg) n (vrabčé)
• Burmese: စာ (my) (ca)
• Catalan: pardal (ca) m, teuladí (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 麻雀 (zh) (máquè)

• Chuvash: ҫерҫи (śerś̬i)
• Crimean Tatar: torğay
• Czech: vrabec (cs) m
• Danish: spurv (da) c
• Dupaningan Agta: pipittot
• Dutch: mus (nl) m or f, huismus (nl) f
• Esperanto: pasero (eo)
• Estonian: varblane (et)
• Faroese: spurvur m, spurv f
• Finnish: varpunen (fi)
• French: moineau (fr) m
• Galician: pardal (gl) m
• Georgian: ბეღურა (ka) (beɣura), ჩიტი (čiṭi)
• German: Sperling (de) m, Spatz (de) m
• Gothic: 𐍃𐍀𐌰𐍂𐍅𐌰 n (sparwa)
• Greek: σπουργίτι (el) n (spourgíti), σπουργίτης (el) m (spourgítis)

  Ancient: στρουθός m (strouthós)

• Hindi: गौरैया (hi) m (gauraiyā), गौरिया (hi) f (gauriyā)
• Gujarati: ચકલી (gu) f (caklī)
• Hebrew: דְּרוֹר‎ (he) m (dror), אַנְקוֹר‎ (he) m (anqór)
• Hungarian: veréb (hu)
• Icelandic: spörfugl (is) m
• Irish: gealbhan (ga) m
• Italian: passero (it) m
• Japanese: 雀 (ja) (すずめ, suzume)
• Kashmiri: کٲنٛتُر‎ m (kạ̄ntur), کانٛتُر‎ m (kāntur), ژٔر‎ f (ċạr)
• Kashubian: warbel m
• Kazakh: торғай (torğai)
• Khmer: ចាប (km) (caap)
• Korean: 참새 (ko) (chamsae)
• Kyrgyz: таранчы (ky) (tarançı), тараанчы (ky) (taraançı)
• Lao: ກະຈອກ (ka chǭk)
• Latin: passer (la) m
• Latvian: zvirbulis m
• Lithuanian: žvirblis (lt) m
• Low German: Lüneng m
• Luxembourgish: Spatz m
• Macedonian: врабец m (vrabec), врапче n (vrapče)
• Malay: pipit
• Maori: tiu
• Marathi: चिमणी f (cimṇī)
• Mingrelian: ჩიტი (čiṭi), ბაღჷრე (baɣəre)
• Mongolian: бор шувуу (bor šuvuu), богширго (mn) (bogširgo), болжмор (mn) (bolžmor) (popular, regional), бялзуухай (mn) (bjalzuuxaj) (popular, regional)
• Navajo: tsídiiłbáhí
• Nepali: भँगेरा (bhãgerā)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: spurv (no) m

  Nynorsk: sporv m

• Occitan: passerat (oc) m, passeron m
• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: врабии m (vrabij)

• Old East Slavic: воробии m (vorobij)
• Old English: spearwa m
• Old Norse: spǫrr m
• Oriya: ଚଟିଆ (or) (côṭia)
• Persian: گنجشک‎ (fa) (gonješk), عَصْفُور‎ (fa) (osfur)
• Plautdietsch: Spauz m
• Polish: wróbel (pl) m
• Portuguese: pardal (pt) m
• Romanian: vrabie (ro) f
• Russian: воробе́й (ru) m (vorobéj), воро́бышек (ru) (voróbyšek) (diminutive), воро́бушек (ru) m (voróbušek) (diminutive)
• Rusyn: воробе́ль m (vorobélʹ)
• Sanskrit: चटक (sa) m (caṭaka)
• Scottish Gaelic: gealbhonn m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: вра́бац m

  Roman: vrábac (sh) m

• Slovak: vrabec (sk) m
• Slovene: vrábəc (sl) m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: wrobel m

  Upper Sorbian: wrobl m, wroblik m

• Spanish: pasérido m, gorrión (es) m
• Swahili: shomoro
• Swedish: sparv (sv) c, sparvfink (sv) c
• Sylheti: ꠌꠠꠂ (soṛoi)
• Tagalog: pipit
• Tajik: гунҷишк (tg) (gunjišk), чумчук (čumčuk)
• Tamil: சிட்டுக்குருவி (ta) (ciṭṭukkuruvi)
• Tatar: чыпчык (tt) (çıpçıq)
• Telugu: పిచ్చుక (te) (piccuka)
• Thai: กระจอก (th) (grà-jɔ̀ɔk)
• Turkish: serçe (tr)
• Turkmen: serçe
• Ubykh: баӷыр (bağər)
• Ukrainian: горобе́ць (uk) m (horobécʹ), горо́бчик m (horóbčyk) (diminutive), воробе́ць m (vorobécʹ) (dated), воробе́ль m (vorobélʹ) (dated or regional)
• Urdu: گورییا‎ m (gauraiyā)
• Uyghur: قۇشقاچ‎ (qushqach)
• Uzbek: chumchuq (uz)
• Venetian: seléga f, séłega f
• Vietnamese: sẻ (vi)
• Welsh: sbrocsyn (cy) m, sbrocsynnod m pl
• Yakut: барабыай (barabıay)
• Yiddish: שפּערל‎ m (shperl)

bird of the family Emberizidae

• Armenian: դրախտապան (draxtapan)
• Dutch: gors (nl) m or f
• Finnish: sirkku (fi)
• French: bruant (fr) m
• Galician: escribenta (gl) f
• Hungarian: sármány (hu)
• Polish: trznadel (pl) m
• Portuguese: escrevedeira f
• Swedish: fältsparv (sv) c

generically, any small, nondescript bird

• Arabic: عَصْفُور‎ m (ʿaṣfūr)
• Armenian: ծիտ (hy) (cit)

  Old Armenian: ծիտ (cit)

• Catalan: pardal (ca) m
• Finnish: pikkulintu (fi)
• French: piaf (fr) m
• Galician: paxariño m
• Portuguese: passarinho (pt) m
• Spanish: pájaro (es) m
• Welsh: aderyn (cy) m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Afrikaans: ^{(please verify)} mossie
• Albanian: ^{(please verify)} harabeli
• Alviri-Vidari: (Vidari): ^{(please verify)} گنگوشک‎ (gangušk)
• Azerbaijani: ^{(please verify)} sərçə (az)
• Basque: ^{(please verify)} txolarre
• Belarusian: ^{(please verify)} верабе́й (be) m (vjerabjéj)
• Breton: ^{(please verify)} golvan (br)
• Bulgarian: ^{(please verify)} врабче́ (bg) n (vrabčé), ^{(please verify)} врабе́ц m (vrabéc)
• Chechen: ^{(please verify)} хьозий (ḥʳozii)
• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} mus (nl) f, ^{(please verify)} huismus (nl) f
• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} pasero (eo)
• Estonian: ^{(please verify)} varblane (et)
• Friulian: ^{(please verify)} passare
• Galician: ^{(please verify)} pardal (gl), ^{(please verify)} gorrión (gl)
• Gallurese: ^{(please verify)} furfurinu, ^{(please verify)} fruffurarzu, ^{(please verify)} bulfurarju m
• Icelandic: ^{(please verify)} spör (^{(please verify)} gráspör (is))
• Interlingua: ^{(please verify)} passere (ia)
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} passero (it) m
• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 참새 (ko) (chamsae)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: ^{(please verify)} چۆلەکە‎ (ku) (çoleke), ^{(please verify)} پاساری‎ (ku) (pasarî)

  Northern Kurdish: ^{(please verify)} beytik (ku)

• Ladin: ^{(please verify)} spoz
• Latgalian: ^{(please verify)} zvierbuļs m, ^{(please verify)} žeigurs m
• Latin: ^{(please verify)} passer (la)
• Latvian: ^{(please verify)} zvirbulis m
• Lithuanian: ^{(please verify)} žvirblis (lt) m, ^{(please verify)} žvirblė f
• Low German: ^{(please verify)} Lünink, ^{(please verify)} Lünk, ^{(please verify)} Lüüntje m, ^{(please verify)} Dackfink m
• Macedonian: ^{(please verify)} врабец m (vrabec)
• Maltese: ^{(please verify)} għasfur tal-bejt
• Mandarin:

  Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 麻雀 (zh) (máquè)

• Mazanderani: ^{(please verify)} میچکا‎
• Norwegian: ^{(please verify)} spurv (no), ^{(please verify)} gråspurv (no) m
• Occitan: ^{(please verify)} passerat (oc)
• Romani: ^{(please verify)} chirikloro m, ^{(please verify)} chirikliori f
• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} vrabie (ro) f
• Sardinian: ^{(please verify)} crucculeu, ^{(please verify)} gruccùcciu m
• Sassarese: ^{(please verify)} furfurinu, ^{(please verify)} fruffurarzu, ^{(please verify)} bulfurarju m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ^{(please verify)} врабац m

  Roman: ^{(please verify)} vrabac (sh) m

• Slovene: ^{(please verify)} vrabec (sl) m
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} gorrión (es) m
• Swahili: ^{(please verify)} shomoro
• Swedish: ^{(please verify)} sparv (sv) (^{(please verify)} gråsparv (sv))
• Taos: ^{(please verify)} p’į́wna
• Turkish: ^{(please verify)} serçe (tr)
• Vietnamese: ^{(please verify)} sẻ (vi), ^{(please verify)} chim sẻ
• West Frisian: ^{(please verify)} mosk (fy)